Citrus Hystrix IPA from Nøgne Ø is an attempt to put new and wonderful flavours in an IPA. To do this we added rye, oats, kaffir lime and some mandarin juice. Taste profile of this IPA is developed in cooperation with chef Trond Moi.

So, I have absolutely no idea what I should classify this as: IBA? IPA? Red Ale? Fruit beer? The reasons will become apparent. According to the label this is "an attempt to put new and wonderful flavours in an IPA", including (but not limited to) kaffir lime and tangerine juice.

With this description in mind, I wasn't expecting the colour of the pour: a deep, dark red colour, possibly even too dark, or at least too opaque for a Red Ale. Head is a shockingly deep dark orange (really, it looks very orange even after the body has drained out of it). Carbonation forms in very fine rivulets up the side of the glass, allowing the head to be very persistent and relatively fine. Lacing is intricate and fine. Overall, I'm confused but very excited.

Nose is more reminiscent of a traditional IPA, but there's quirks here as well. Along with the classic citric hop aroma, there's dark sweet hints of burnt sugar, a jammy marmalade character and a fresh, delicate, slightly herbal character of kaffir lime. It's just a little too sharp and direct to be an American Red, although that's probably where this is trending towards. It's lovely stuff.

Taste again gives a rather silly and twisted view on the world. There's hops aplenty, giving a coating bitterness throughout the palate, mingling with a true citrus/grapefruit bitterness, some oily, herbal notes on the back and an muted clang of spicy malt that ricochets off the bitterness almost to become a smouldering smoky character. It's quirky.

Feel is smooth, but layered with fine carbonation to keep everything alive.

Overall, while this does ostensibly fit into an IPA category, everything about it is weird in someway. If you don't look beyond the surface, it's perhaps a little unsettling, but no more; if you actually try to deconstruct it and figure it out, it's extremely elusive and very strange indeed.

500ml bottle. Hmmm...rye, oats, kaffir lime and tangerine juice - those wacky Norwegians! I don't know about the rest of the world, but my label clearly states: I...P...A! And I'm assuming this Trond Moi person has something to do with Norway's version of Top Chef?

This beer pours a hazy dark dishwater orange/amber hue, with four fingers of superfluously foamy, puffy, and yet still thin beige head, which leaves some decent linked island lace around the glass as it quite slowly sinks out of sight.

The bubbles are generally quite subdued, and not really in play, the body a decent medium weight, mostly smooth, with just a slight twinge of those now fervently pithy hops. It finishes off-dry, the fleshy, multi-faceted citrus, lingering spicy malt, and loitering alcohol meshing in a sort of newbie, first attempt sort of way,.

A decent enough base IPA, I have to surmise, with the attendant side-steps in yin and yang adjuncts doing well to integrate themselves. By the strictest measure, this went down rather well, to the extent that I was agog when tipping the empty bottle for the last time. That says enough, methinks.